we love bees
Keen photographer Mark Parrott, 45, was tending to his garden when he spotted the swarm. Always having his camera to hand in the hope of capturing nature at its best, the father-of-two quickly grabbed it and began snapping away. But he couldn’t believe it when he looked back at the picture and spotted the little insect apparently having a call of nature.
“I was shocked with excitement when I saw the shot and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was a steady stream of wee coming from the cheeky little bee. I think this is probably a very rare shot indeed! It’s difficult to get good close up shots without a tripod and this one was taken handheld.” Parrott told the Grimsby Telegraph.
Bumblebees do not technically release urine but get rid of the insect version of wee – a liquid waste called uric acid. It is formed in their malpighian tubules – the insect of kidneys – where it is mixed with other waste products before being expelled from the body. The amount of uric acid a bee expels is very small so it is rare to see – and images capturing the moment are even more rare.
Understandably there’s a lot of buzz on the Internet surrounding this astounding image.
